The Gift Horse Restaurant and Antiques — Restaurant in Foley

Southern comfort luxury.

Some people like upscale everything. This is more. This is heritage, grace, welcome, and generosity. Upscale places still do not have this natural connection to hospitality that rolls out at every picture and recipe here!

The buffet is not at all what you find on the strip of tourist attractions. This is southern gracefully elegant comfort food.

Traditional homemade recipes take the high notes. To sample a few; turkey dressing, apple cheese, boiled potatoes & green beans, fried chicken, baked chicken, pork roast, spinach souffle, sweet potato casserole, shrimp bisque, gumbo, fried shrimp, fried whitefish, chocolate icebox pie, cherry trifle, pecan shortbread, snickerdoodles, fudge cake, coconut cake, German chocolate cake, this just 1/3 of what's on the table!

The building has historical antiques and the servers know many of the locals and history of everything in the space! The walls and ceilings are so beautiful, the warmth of the wood is like a hug. The natural attitude of kindness and helpful manners of all the staff shows.

We came while a huge event was taking place in the private space available next to the main cafe, the sound barrier was amazing, privacy and quiet for both sides of the dining spaces! Mardi gras crowning for the local parade crewes.

While the main cafe was filled with people and there was music, it was not overly loud or overwhelming. Quiet enough for anyone who dislikes loud spaces. Also plenty of space. Handicap accessible. Two entrances, plenty of parking.

Family friendly, also wonderful for a date.

I'm so sad we don't have anything like this in most places we go. Unique and elegant, directly part of the Gulf Coast Gems of places to go. Do not pass this by. Great oaks with benches are 2 blocks away. You might need to sit and thank your stars after a visit, because life is short and you might eat more then one...

We went to the gift horse restaurant today. As we walked in, I got an uneasy vibe. Something didn't seem right from the moment we walked in the door.

We stood waiting to be seated for several minutes. As I looked around, it seemed that the local nursing home had dropped off all their patients there right before we got there. They were all staring at us the entire time we stood there waiting to be seated. We stood so long and got so many bad looks from the nursing home people that I almost let before we got seated.

We were finally seated. I went to the restroom and as I walked by the buffet I looked to see what they had to eat. It did not look good at all. Upon leaving the rest room I took a better look at the salad and food bar and decided I did not want a case of food poisoning today and once back at the table I told my wife and mother the food looked disgusting and I was not going to eat there but they could if they wanted to.

They went and looked at the food and decided the food looked horrible and they didn't care to eat there either.

I told the waitress that I would like to pay for my can drink and two teas and we were going to go somewhere else. She gave me a weird look and said, "Don't worry about it. I said I would be happy to pay for our drinks and left a $5 on the table. As we were getting up to leave, a lady at the table beside us looked discusted and said, "Are they leaving? Lol.

I'm glad I didn't pay 30 dollars per person to be sick the rest of the day. How is this...

We ate at the Gift Horse Restaurant the first tine for lunch in early March 2020. It was really good and everything was fresh and hot. It was a real treat. We have been looking forward to going back for Seafood Night which is held on Friday evenings. We finally got to go Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. It was such a huge disappointment. Our first clue should have been we were the only customers there. We got there at 4:45 thinking the food would be fresh and hot. It was anything but hot and fresh. In fact it appeared to be trays of leftover food from lunch service and the food was lukewarm. I told the waitress it was not at all hot and looked like leftovers. She said oh it probably just needs stirred up and some of it has been sitting there since lunchtime. The seafood consisted of two pieces of fried whitefish and six shrimp brought to the table from the kitchen. We are not hard to please but honestly this was the worse buffet we have ever eaten at. The food on the buffet looked trays of leftovers from a family reunion. We should have checked the buffet out first and then left. I think if they aren't going to take more care and pride in what they serve their customers they should just close up for good before they make someone sick. It cost $20.99 for the evening meal so was not cheap by any means. Shame on them for serving such sloppy, substandard food. It was honestly the worst meal we have ever eaten at...